Simplified Planner vs. The Homemaker’s Friend Planner

I’m what you might call a “planner addict.” I’m one of those “old fashioned girls” who just prefers a pen and paper rather than digital planning methods. Somehow I just seem to think better on paper. For several years I used and recommended The Homemaker’s Friend Planner, but last year I did a “bold thing” 🙂 and switched to The Simplified Planner. I thought it might be helpful to do a post comparing the two.

The Homemaker’s Friend Daily Planner

I enjoyed using this planner for several years. The Bible verses and uplifting thoughts on each page and the sections in the back that allowed me to plan for projects were two of my favorite aspects of this planner.

You can see in the above photo that the two-page spread is all the room you get for writing out your daily tasks for the whole week. For some people, this is perfect! It makes the planner more affordable and also smaller (which makes it better for taking with you).

The Homemaker’s Friend planner has all of the months together in the front of the book, and then the weekly pages are behind that, followed with the tasks, projects, info, and shopping pages.

I liked the idea of the detachable grocery shopping lists, but in the end I rarely ended up using them. We keep a magnetic notepad on our refrigerator with a running list of things we need to purchase. So the ones in the back of the planner simply weren’t used much.

One of the biggest things this planner has going for it is the affordable price. After seeing the prices of most planners out there, I felt like The Homemaker’s Friend was a huge bargain!

What I Loved About It

• Affordable price
• Bible verses and quotes
• Extra space in the back to record goals, projects, gift ideas, etc.

What I Didn’t Love About It

• Not enough room to write daily tasks
• The paper (I prefer plain white pages over the colored pages with a design in the background. It just looks neater to me.)

The Simplified Planner

I’ve been using The Simplified Planner for all of 2016. I got it at the beginning of the year (I made the decision to buy it during a sale they were having). This planner has been way more intuitive to me, with the layout, the plain white paper pages, and I love the design.

The beginning of each month starts with a calendar page, and then you come to the daily pages for that month. Each day gets its own page except for Saturday and Sunday, which get half a page.

The daily page has the time going down the left side, a to do list on the right side, a place to put dinner plans at the bottom left, and a space for notes on the bottom right.

Below you can see how the weekend page looks. The Saturday section at the top simply has a “today” section and then a “to do” section on the right-hand side. There’s a place to write a favorite memory from the week, and then Sunday is below that. Sunday has reminders to plan a menu, tidy up for a clean slate on Monday, write tasks/appointments for the week, and enjoy what matters most.

To make up for the lack of planning space in this planner, I also got one of these “to do list” notebooks. In this blank book I can record my reading list, organizing plans, etc.

What I Love About It

• The layout
• Size
• More room to write daily schedule/tasks/meals
• Appearance (just looking at this planner inspires me!)
• The paper (it’s very high quality, wonderful paper)
• The simplicity of the design
• The metal coils (it feels much sturdier than the Homemaker’s Friend planner)

What I Don’t Love About It

• The price (although I still feel it was worth it!)
• Some of the quotes are not my favorite
• No extra room to record goals/plans/gift ideas, etc.

Which Planner Is Right For You?

If you enjoy having the whole week on a two-page spread, and you just want to write down your most important goals for the day (or a few tasks), The Homemaker’s Friend might be just what you need! However, if you prefer more room to write out your daily plan, you might prefer The Simplified Planner.

I’m still trying to decide what I’ll use this coming year. I can’t decide between The Simplified Planner or an Erin Condren Life Planner. Do you have a planner that you love? I’d love to hear about it! 

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